Railroad car



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RAILROAD CAR Filed Nov. l2, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENT OR.

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3,009,426 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 dice 3,009,426 RAILROAD CAR Sulo Michael Nampa, Detroit, Mich., assigner to Evans Products Company, Plymouth, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 695,756 SClaims. (Cl. S-367) My invention relates to freight shipping equipment and in particular concerns apparatus which is suitable for the shipping of large articles, such as coils of steep strip.

It is an object of this invention to provide a freight shipping device which will protect the freight from being physically damaged by impact, attrition, or the elements in the course of shipment.

In particular, it is an object of this invention to provide a railroad car for the shipment of coils of steel which will protect the coils so that they will not rust due to exposure to the weather in the course o-f shipment by railroad.

Another object of the invention is to provide a freight shipping container for large articles vwhich has a cover that may be opened to permit loads to be inserted or removed from the top or from the ends of the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a freight shipping device in which the freight is braced and cushioned against movement and against shock during the course of shipment.

A further object is to provide structure for the shipment of steel coils which may be mounted on conventional railroad flat cars.

It is a further object of the invention to provide cradles for the shipment of freight which have hinged covers attached to them.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a freight shipping vehicle having an opening on top which may be closed by a pair of hinged covers meeting along the mid-plane of the vehicle and which includes means whereby one man can simultaneously operate both covers.

While the principles of the invention may be embodied in structures suitable for shipping other types of freight, my preferred embodiment is designed for the protective shipment of large steel coils weighing many hundreds of pounds apiece. Unless these coils are covered during the shipping period, they are likely to rust severely. When shipped -by railroad, they are also subjected to large impact loads as the railroad cars are bumped and, if not properly secured, will break loose. In my construction the coils are protected against such loads and against rain or snow. I prefer to provide an ordinary railroad ilat car with a pair of cradles and each cradle receives several steel coils. Each of the coils is braced within its cradle by means of cross beams; and each cradle is shock mounted on the at car. Thus, impact loads on the coils are absorbed and the coils are held securely in place and cannot come loose in the course of shipment.

Further, my construction includes a pair of covers for each cradle which are hinged along the longitudinal side edges of the cradle. The covers meet each other in a sealed engagement at the top of the construction along a joint that extends longitudinally and in the midplane of the construction.' When the covers are open they swing outwardly from this plane to expose the full width and length of the cradle so that coils may be loaded and unloaded by means of a crane. Often there is insufficient head room to lift coils above the tops of the covers in order to let them down into the cradle. In order to permit loading under such conditions, the ends of the covers are provided with automatically opening sections whichv leave end openings in the cover which are wide enough to permit end loading of coils into the cradle. The cradles are of such length that the covers will not distort unduly and hence can be simultaneously operated by one man through suitable operating mechanism such as linkage or screw shaft arrangements.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE l is a perspective view taken from the side of a railroad vehicle embodying my invention;

FIG. Z is a perspective view taken from the end o-f the car showing one of the coil carrying sections with the covers open;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view looking along the length of one ofthe cradles with the cover open;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view looking at the inside end of one of the cradles with the covers closed;

FIG. 5 is an end View of one of the cradles taken at the inner end thereof Where there is the door operating mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of approximately one half of the railroad car;

FIG. 7 is a section through the spring bank at the left end of the car of FIG. 6 showing it compressed;

FIG. 8 is a plan View of the car as shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a typical cross section through a suitable form of cradle;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross section along one edge of the cradle and corresponds to a section taken along the line 1li-10i of FIG. 1l;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation with parts broken away of a portion of the side of the cradle showing the hinge tube which connects the cover to the cradle;

FIG. 12 is a plan View of the structure in FIG. 1l; and

FIG. 13 is a section taken along the line 13--13 of FIG. 11.

The steel coil car 1 of this invention includes a conventional at car adapted to nde on railroad tracks 5. Two containersV 7 and 9 of substantially identical construction are mounted on the floor 11 of the flat car and are adapted to brace and protect steel coils 13 lfor shipment. The coils 13, as is Well known, are strips or sheets of steel Wo-und into rolls of varying diameters, the weight of each being considerable. If not protected, water can work its way between each convolution or layer of the roll and cause enough rusting to present a serious and expensive problem to the eventual user of the steel in the coil. It may be noted that 4thou-gh the invention is designed with steel coils particularly in mind, it is Within its scope to use the structure for shipment of other articles.

Each container 7 and 9 comprises a cradle 15 and 17, respectively, and a pair of covers 19 `and 21 (cradle 15) and 23 and 25, respectively. Actually, the containers 7 and 9 and their various component parts are identical and they are given different numbers herein only because they are in the reverse positions on the freight car 3 in order that the operating mechanisms 27 and 29 for the covers thereof will be located at the center of the car.

The cradles 1S and 17 are like boxes open on top and have trough-shaped bottoms. The structural details providing this general cradle shape may vary widely. In FIGS. 9-13, the cradles have longitudinally extending side members in the form of outwardly facing channels 31. The bottom flanges 33 of the side members 31 slide on the wooden surface of the floor 11 of the flat car and are held against it and guided in movement lengthwise of the car by overlapping guide plates 35v secured to the oor 11 of the car. The side members 31 are connected to each other by cross beams 37 which are welded or bolted to them. Bolted to the bottoms of the cross beams 37 are several wooden planks 39 which also slide upon the surface of the floor 11. Thus, the cradle 15 or 17 3 is secured to the surface of the freight car floor 11 but can move a limited amount lengthwise of the car 3 on the ilanges 33 andthe planks 39.

The V-shaped trough which is formed in each cradle 15 and 17 supports the bottom of the coil at two points as will be clear from FIG. 9. The trough may be formed by steel members 41 which are welded or bolted to the upper half of the side members 31 and then tapered down toward the bottom of the cradle and are attached by gussets 43 to cross members 37. Wooden planks 45 running lengthwise of the cradle are bolted to the members 41 and define the surface of the trough which engages the steel coils.

In order to brace the steel coils and prevent them from shifting lengthwise of the cradle on the planks 45, a removable and adjustable cross bar arrangement is provided. For this purpose the members 41 have horizontal tlanged sections 47 and welded or bolted to these sections and extending longitudinally of the cradle on opposite sides thereof are plates 49. Vertically aligned with the plates 49 and spaced vertically about them are plates 51 which are welded or bolted to the top anges 53 of the side members 31. The plates 51 and 49 and the flanges of sections 47 have vertically aligned openings 55 in them and these will receive shouldered drop pins 57 that are connected by chains 59 to cross bars 61. The cross bars 61 rest on the plates 49 as can be seen in FIGS. 9 and 10 and the drop pins 57 pass through apertures in them so that the cross bars `are txed in longitudinal position by the drop pins to the plates 51 and 49.

While the cross bars 61 may be of various constructions, I have illustrated in FIG. 9, 10, and ll bars which comprise I-beams that are arranged to have the web 65 horizontal and the anges 67 vertical. The ends of the I-beam are provided with welded pads 69, 71, and 73 which are apertured `along with the web 65 to permit passage of the drop pins 57. Engagement of the anges 67 with the sides of the coils 13 will result in bracing of the coils so that they cannot shift lengthwise of the cradles on the planks 45.

It is evident that shock or inertia loads on the coils 13 tending to move them lengthwise of the car will be transferred into beams 61 and thus into side members 31 and will therefore tend to cause the cradles 15 or 17 to slide lengthwise of the car on the floor 11. In accordance with my invention such movement is permitted but is yieldably resisted. For this purpose I provide spring banks 77 and 79 for the outer ends of the containers 7 and 9 respectively and a common spring bank 81 for the inner ends of both containers. The spring banks may be bolted to the floor 11 of the car; or, if desired, the wooden floor planking of the car may be removed in the areas occupied by the spring -banks and the spring banks connected by bolting or welding directly to the steel structure of the car 3. The spring bank structure 77 (and also 79) includes a transverse backing plate 83, seen best in FIGS. 6-8, which is tixedly secured to the lloor 11 of the car. Also xed to the door of the car are longitudinal side members 85 and over the tops of these members is a at cover 87 having side edges turned down over the members as can be seen in the drawings. Inside of the space provided by the members just mentioned are several longitudinally extending, transversely spaced spring units which may consist of three aligned coil snubber springs 89 disposed between the backup plate 83, intermediate transversely extending divider plates 91, and the flange 93 of an I-beam type transversely extending compressor element 95. The members 83, 91, and 93 may all be provided with bosses 97 to lit inside the springs 89 and help to properly locate them. The inner ange 99 of the compressor 95 is engaged by a box or channel-shaped bumper 101 secured transversely across an end of the cradle 7 (or 9). It will be seen in FIGS. 6 and 8 that movement of the container 7 to the left will cause the bumper 101 to move to the left pushing the compressor 95 to the left and causing it to compress the springs 89 against the plate 83 to a position such as shown in FIG. 7.

The middle shock absorber 81 is similar in construction to the units 77 and 79 and thus has side members 105 which are suitably aixed to the tloor of the car and a cover 107. Inside of the space delined by the side members 105 and the cover 107 are the springs 109 and divider plates 111. In this construction there are movable compressors 113 and 114 (corresponding to element 95) at each end of the spring bank, outward movement of these elements under spring force being prevented by stop surfaces provided by gussets attached to the inside faces of the side members 105. The compressors 113 and 114 are originally in contact with the bumpers 117 on each container. However, it will be seen that upon substantial movement of the container 7, for example, to the right the bumper 117 will cause the element 113 to further compress the springs 109 against the element 114 which in turn is held in place by the shoulders 115 on the side members 105. It is therefore evident that the container 7 (and similarly for container 9) is shock mounted by initially compressed spring banks 77 and 81 against movement to the left or right and that the two spring units are spaced -apart by a distance somewhat less than the over-all distance between the faces of bumpers 101 and 117. In addition to spring resistance there will be frictional resistance as the container slides on the wood planks 11 acting to snub loads on the unit. The stored energy in the spring bank, however, is not enough to overcome frictional resistance as appears in FIGS. 6 and 8 which show the container 7 at rest after impact against spring bank 77 with a space remaining between bumper 117 and compressor 113.

The covers 19, 21, 23, and 25 may be made in various ways but in FIGS. lO-l3 they are shown to be of substantially identical construction and to consist of a skeleton or frame made up of curved ribs 121 and longitudinal elements 123. To the flanges of the elements 121 and 123 are attached metal sheets 125 to form a watertight cover. To the lower outside edges of the longitudinal skeleton members 123 are welded a series of brackets 127 which in turn are welded on their bottom faces to hinge tubes 129 which run the full length of the cradle. While some clearance for the tube 129 is shown in FIGS. 10 and 13, it actually rests and pivots on the top surface of the plate 51 above the flange 53 of the side member 31. The hinge tubes are held in position above the flanges 53 by suitable straps 131 which extend around them at spaced points and have opposite ends welded or bolted to the cradle as shown at 133 and 135. In order to cover the joint between the bottom edge of the cover and the cradle, suitable sealing `means may be provided such las a baffle or deector strip 135 that runs the length of the cover and is welded to its inside face at 137. The meeting joint of the top longitudinal edges of the covers 19 and 21 is also provided with a suitable seal 138 which becomes effective when the covers are brought together in closed position.

The cover sections are roughly in the shape of a quarter of a cylinder and the transverse ends are partly covered by a xed sheet of metal 141 which is secured to the end rib 121 `and to a skeleton member 143 and a bottom skele ton member 145. The member 143 extends at an angle to the joint or plane 144 in which the two covers 19 and 21 meet. Substantially triangular sections 147 are movably secured to each end of the covers 19 and 21 to cover the space between the plane of junction and the skeleton member 143. The triangular sections 147 have their widest section at the bottom and each are separately piv oted near its apex to its respective cover framework by pivot pins 149. As can be seen in FIG. 2 tbe sections 147 will swing about their pivots behind the fixed end sections 141 as the covers 19 and 21 are swung outwardly on the hinge tubes thus leaving a transverse opening between the bottom edges of the ends of the covers 19 and 21 which is `wide enough to permit longitudinal movement of a coil 13 between the covers so that the coils can be inserted or removed from the cradles without necessarily lifting them above the top edges of covers 19 and 21. The meeting edges of sectors 147 have suitable sealing means 149 to prevent leakage when the covers are closed and gravity has swung the sectors 147 together.

Various means may be provided for rotating the two tubes 129 simultaneously so as to open both covers 19 and 21 at once. I have illustrated a toggle linkage comprising crank arms 161 Welded to the ends of the tubes 129. .Links 163 are pivoted to the bottoms of the arms 161 and to opposite sides of a rocker link 165 which is hinged on a iixed pivot 167. An actuator lever 169 is secured to the rocker link 165 so that when it is moved upwardly in F-IGS. 4 and 5, it will turn the rocker link 165 to pull links 163 inwardly, thus pulling the cranks 161 inwardly and Iforcing the tubes 129 to pivot in a direction to open the respective covers 19 and 21.

It will be noted that the links 163 go over center and that during the first part of opening movement gravity will resist opening but that after passing the neutral point it will assist opening thereby resulting in a minimum effort required to open and close and acting as a safety against inadvertent closing. Instead of linkage as shown a nonfree running threaded rod could extend between arms 161 with a mating nut swivelly attached to each arm 161, rotation of the rod then causing the arms 161 to move toward or away from each other.

I claim:

l. A steel -coil car for railroads including a mobile frame, a container for carrying steel coils, said container comprising a cradle mounted on the frame, means for securing the steel coils in position in said cradle, said cradle being cubical shape with a rectangular opening on top defined by longitudinal side members, a pair of covers hinged respectively along the length of said side members and arcuate in shape so that when in closed position they dene a cover for said cradle which is approximately semicircular, said covers having closed ends, meeting portions of the ends of the respective covers being swingably mounted o-n said covers so that they swing to an open position behind adjacent sections of the end of the cover when the covers are open.

2. In a steel coil shipping container for railroad flat cars or the like, a pair of quadri-cylindrical covers adapted to close together to form an approximately semicircular cover, means hinging said covers along an edge thereof to said shipping container, the ends of said covers including movable portions which are biased by gravity to kan opened position when the covers are hinged to an open position and to a closed position when the covers are closed.

3. A container for bracing and enclosing goods to be transported and adapted to be carried by and supported on the floor of an open-type railroad car, said container comprising a generally rectangular cradle adapted to receive and support goods, a pair of cover halves disposed above said cradle, means pivotally mounting each of said cover halves on `said cradle for pivotal movement about a lower outer edge of such cover half for movement between a closed position and an :open position, said cover halves meeting above said cradle when in said closed positions to cover goods received in said cradle, said cover hal-ves having C10-operating end walls at at least one end of said container co-operating when said cover halves are in said closed positions to close said one end of said container, each of said co-operating end walls including a fixed end wall portion rigid with its cover half and each of said co-operating end walls also including a movable end Wall sector freely pivotally mounted at an upper portion thereof on an upper part of said iixed end wall portion of its cover half, each of said movable end wall sectors being so shaped and `disposed that when its cover half is in said open position, it is urged by the force of gravity to and occupies an open position relative to its tixed end wall portion in which it has a minimum extension beyond said tixed end wall portion and when its cover half is in said closed position it is urged by the force of gravity to and occupies a closed position relative to its fixed end wall portion in which it has a maximum extension beyond its ixed end Wall portion and engages said movable end wall sector of the other of said cover halves tocor-operate in closing said end of said container.

References Cited in the lile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,847,132 M0rr0W Mar. l, 1932 2,056,179 Fitch Oct. 6, 1936 2,128,364 Kellett Aug. 30, 1938 2,191,222 Sheehan Feb. 20, 1940 2,519,721 Taylor Aug. 22, 1950 2,587,027 lBlack Feb. 26, 1952 2,629,339 Kovachick Feb'. 24, 1953 2,769,658 Edmonds Nov. 6, 1956 2,808,288 Benson Oct. 1, 1957 2,817,304 Newcomer et al. Dec. 24, 1957 2,873,692 Schey et al. Feb. 17, 1959 

